Don Sturkey photographic materials, 1951-2007 (bulk 1951-1989).

The collection of white photographer Don Sturkey of Charlotte, N.C., contains images, 1951 to 2007, chiefly made when Sturkey was a staff photographer for the Charlotte Observer between 1955 and 1989. Photographs primarily depict news and sports events, numerous North Carolina and national politicians, and musicians and other entertainers. Sturkey's images also capture the civil rights movement and racist backlash to the movement in Charlotte, N.C., including protests and picketing of segregated establishments, Ku Klux Klan rallies, and the first African American student to integrate Charlotte and Mecklenburg County school, Dorothy Counts when she walked into Harding High School in 1957 followed by a crowd of white people taunting her. Also included are photographs of several NASA launches (1968-1972) from The Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Fla. and images depicting the construction of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. in 1971.